Taking Stock of the Social Economy Action Plan Review: Progress and Next Steps

13/04/2026

On 30 March, the European Commission presented the long-awaited Mid-term Review of the Social Economy Action Plan. Since its adoption in 2021, the Commission has assessed the Plan’s implementation, taking stock of progress achieved and identifying remaining challenges, while also reviewing it in light of evolving political priorities.

Giuseppe Guerini, President of Cooperatives Europe, welcomes this review and stated:

“It is essential to ensure the ongoing implementation of the SEAP until 2030 and mainstream social economy in all EU policies. Now more than ever, we need to make room for businesses that prioritise people, local development and locally generated production. Cooperatives are particularly well placed to deliver the SEAP’s objectives while supporting inclusive competitiveness and quality employment across the Union. The mid-term review confirms that social economy enterprises continue to fulfil their mission; European institutions and Member States must, in turn, recognise and value them.” 

The review highlights that significant progress has been made within a number of Member States that have adopted, or are in the process of developing, their own social economy action plans at national or local level. Yet, much remains to be done. The 2030 vision and its three overarching priorities—enhancing the regulatory environment, improving access to finance, and building robust and comparable data— sets the path for the upcoming years but certainly raises some questions on the following elements:  

Multi-level governance

We welcome the recognition of the important role played by regions and municipalities and support the proposal to develop toolkits aimed at supporting regional and local social economy policies. While the Review highlights the untapped potential of regions and cities, our findings (based on a consultation within our membership) indicate that these levels often act as drivers. Their initiator role, however, depends on specific factors, such as the level of social economy maturity and the degree of political decentralisation for instance.

The Review also points to the limited cross-border exchange between regions or cities. In this regard, it should be noted that such exchanges may not lead to substantial changes without political uptake and support at national level. While joint projects and pilot actions can and must be developed regionally, they require, many times, adequate financial and political backing from national authorities.

A competitive and innovative vision of social economy enterprises

This Review highlights the role of the social economy as a source of resilience and social innovation. While this is welcomed as a confirmation of the Commission’s commitment, it is important to warn against the risk of a “niche effect” that the social economy seems to be confined to. The social economy is not a temporary response to crises but constitutes a proven and long-lasting model that has existed in the market economy for centuries. In this context, its contribution to the EU innovation and competitiveness agenda should be more strongly recognised and systematically integrated across EU legislation. For instance, the Review makes a brief reference to the circular economy, but it is essential that the upcoming Circular Economy Act reflects the role of social economy enterprises across circular activities and introduces measures to support and scale up their impacts.

Similarly, we support the development of business-to-business partnerships as a means to strengthen collaboration and mainstream social economy enterprises within the wider economy. However, similar to the “niche effect”, it is important not to reinforce the perception of social economy enterprises as merely subsidiary actors within the value chains of mainstream businesses. Instead, they should be recognised and supported as fully-fledged market actors, capable of operating on an equal footing and contributing independently to value creation, innovation and competitiveness.

Enabling legal framework

Cooperatives Europe supports the emphasis on building an enabling legal framework to account for social economy enterprises’ unique governance model, profit allocation and impact-driven nature. The Review also mentions efforts to integrate social consideration in the revision of the Public Procurement Directive and the General Block Exemption Regulation (GBER), elements that Cooperatives Europe and its members have consistently advocated for.

External cooperation

Finally, we value the efforts to roll out social economy-related projects and support measures in non-EU countries. This addresses one of our initial concerns at the time of the SEAP’s publication, namely the limited scope of its international dimension and the insufficient mobilisation of the social economy’s potential in this area. Through its Framework Partnership #Coops4Dev🌍, co-signed with the European Commission, Cooperatives Europe promotes the role of cooperatives as drivers of sustainable development and advocates for cooperative entrepreneurship in the Enlarged Europe. We hope to collaborate with the Commission and Member States in the next years to provide, through this partnership, expertise, good practices and capacity-building activities.

Overall, this review set the intentions and objectives for the future EU agenda on the social economy. What remains uncertain is the level of momentum and engagement from Member States. The Commission affirms that it will “maintain a coordinated and integrated approach in implementing and monitoring the action plan.” Cooperatives Europe now looks ahead to seeing how this commitment will be put into practice.